One related prior art device includes a pair of wires attached to a fire hose. The device allows a fireman at the output end of a hose to ring a bell at the fire truck. The bell is used to send simple signals to the fireman in control of the pumps sending water into the hose.
Another prior art device is a grounding wire embedded in a fire hose. The device is used to protect a fireman who encounters a live electric wire while fighting a fire. The ground wire is utilized by bringing the dangerous voltage down to zero volts when the tip of the hose touches the dangerous voltage.
As a fluid is pumped through a hose or pipe, the fluid pressure drops as it gets farther from the pump, eventually becoming inconsequential. A mechanical characteristic of every hose or pipe is a maximum pressure beyond which the hose or pipe will burst. Therefore, increasing pump pressure to increase downstream fluid pressure eventually becomes detrimental to the hose or pump. A common technique to affect downstream pressure in a hose or pipe is to insert booster pumps at prescribed intervals downstream.
Firefighters sometimes connect multiple pumper trucks together to extend the distance of their hoses and to increase the effective fluid pressure, when a fire is a significant distance from a source of water. The use of multiple pumper trucks is called “relay pumping”.
Relay pumping is operationally challenging. The pressure and flow at each pumper truck must be monitored and adjusted and this requires a dedicated firefighter at each pumper truck to be in radio communication with corresponding dedicated firefighters at adjacent pumper trucks. Several expensive fire trucks, which are often is short supply in various jurisdictions, must be dedicated to the relay operation and are thereby not available for other firefighting tasks.
The pumper trucks use their diesel or gasoline fuel to power the pumps. If the relay must be maintained for a long time, the pumper trucks will have to be supplied with more fuel. This requires even more manpower and vehicles to transport fuels to the fire trucks.
Wildfires are often located in areas that are far from roadways and large volumes of water. In many wildfires, relay pumping cannot be implemented because large fire trucks or pump trucks cannot be driven off road into difficult terrain. Special fire trucks that carry water tanks can go off road, but they can supply only a very limited quantity of water, inadequate for fighting most wildfires. Helicopters and planes are often used to drop water or flame retardant material on the fire because no other source of water is nearby.
For non-firefighting situations, there are alternative means available for transporting water. Irrigation canals require enormous amounts of earth moving, and they can suffer from excessive water loss due to evaporation. Pipelines, which do not have to be dug into the ground and they don't have evaporation problems, may be adopted. However, pipelines require spatially distributed pumping stations to keep their fluids moving over long distances. Where possible, a pumping station hooks into a local power grid to power the pumps. Where no local power grid is available, tanker trucks haul diesel fuel to supply the fuel for the pumping stations. With tanker trucks, there are high transportation costs and a risk of vehicle accidents and fuel spills.
Golf course type irrigation systems typically have a central water pumping station, which sends the water through buried pipes to the far reaches of the golf course. Because of pressure drops, booster pumps are often required at the farther ends of the pipes. Electric power is required at these booster pumps and the distribution of the electric power is often a separate system of buried wires, or wires on poles. Sometimes, a booster pump may not be needed, but electric power is needed to power a remote electric sprinkler controller which might be used to determine when the local terrain is dry and in need of water. One proposal has been to add a small turbine in the flow of the water at the far end. The electric power generated by the turbine is used to power the electric sprinkler controller. The turbine is used to preclude the need for constructing a separate electric power distribution system.
Most farmers use either electricity or diesel engines to supply power for their irrigation systems. A few use propane, natural gas or gasoline. Large irrigation systems can require more electric power than is available on single phase wiring systems. If three-phase power is not available on or near the farm, the cost to construct power lines may be prohibitive. If the farmer's fields are far from the source of electricity, then diesel powered booster pumps will be required. The cost and effort of delivering the diesel fuel to the diesel generators can be a burden. Alternatively, the farmer must construct electric power lines that run across his property to the locations of the electric booster pumps.
Many prior art irrigation systems consist of a single pump, which supplies water to a network of pipes. These pipes deliver water to an array of sprinkler heads connected to the pipes. When the system is controlled by a single wire pair, they are called Two-Wire Irrigation Systems. These systems use a spatially separate network of low voltage wires to send power and commands to valves that control the sprinklers. The wires also provide a means for moisture sensors to be read in order to determine if sprinkling is necessary in a particular location. This separate network of wires is often placed in a separate conduit. If they are not placed in a separate conduit, the wires are at risk of being eaten by rodents or being cut by shovels. The wires must be carefully connected to the valves, which control the sprinkler heads. These connections must be made in the field, and they must be waterproof. The installers must be well trained to properly install the irrigation system.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.